


Mystified

by Nehemia Graves (NehemiaGraves)



Category: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra | Phantom of the Opera & Related Fandoms, Phantom of the Opera (2004), Phantom of the Opera - Lloyd Webber
Genre: Awkward Romance, F/M, Romantic Gestures, Slow Romance, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:27:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23792311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NehemiaGraves/pseuds/Nehemia%20Graves
Summary: A captivating phantom with half a face disfigured. A bullied princess with patchy skin. Their worlds collide. My first fanfic! Erik x OC (Re-upload from fanfiction.net)
Relationships: Erik | Phantom of the Opera/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 18





	1. The Introduction

"Fascinating, absolutely, fascinating." The Phantom watched the girl in front of him with wide blue eyes. He walked a small circle around her.

The girl swallowed hard. "No one's ever said that about me before."

"People are so quick to judge and dismiss anything... or anyone... that is different. But you... you are a divine creature of light and darkness. A mythical goddess." The Phantom continued to be compelled by her appearance.

The girl quietly scoffed. "Goddesses don't look like cows." She kept her arms crossed.

The Phantom came to an abrupt stop behind her, and turned her around, large white bony hands on her shoulders. "Who said that about you?"

Her brown eyes were wide. "Um, my parents. Strangers."

"Any friends?"

She broke eye contact. "N-no. None that I can remember. Or, perhaps Juliet. But no, I have never made much friends." Her French was broken.

The Phantom noticed this detail in her speech pattern. "Your accent. You are Spanish?"

She shook her head. "Greek."

"Greece... I've never been. I've heard it's a lovely place."

"Maybe we can go together, one day." She looked down at his shiny black shoes nervously, her patchy cheeks flushing a pale shade of pink.

"Yes, perhaps."

The girl was born with a skin condition called vitiligo. She had milk chocolate African American skin and splotches of pale ivory all over her body. All her life, she had been called cow, giraffe, and monkey (due to her race). But, this man, this strange man... thought she was beautiful.


	2. Piano

"What is your name?" The Phantom asked, his icy blue stare cutting into her once more. It's not that his gaze was rude; she just disliked eye contact.

"I um... Aria." She almost whispered.

"Speak up, child."

"Aria." She did as she was told.

"Aria..." The Phantom thought to himself before beginning to pace back and forth. "Aria, as in a song." He sat at his piano, played a few notes, then looked back at her. "Well? There's enough room for both of us on this seat."

She chuckled and hesitantly sat beside him on the chair. Her long slender fingers caressed the keys. She noticed her flesh was open for view and she pulled her hands back.

The Phantom eyed her in thought. He then cleared his throat and sat up straight, beginning to play an old hymn on the piano. "Do you know this one?"

"Um, yes, I think so. My aunt Juliet used to play it at home."

"Did you go to church?" The Phantom continued to play.

"Uh, she did." She began to visibly get more uncomfortable. "I always wanted to go. She loved me very much, but she didn't want to take me in... public.." Aria's movements got fidgety.

The Phantom stopped playing. "How absolutely ridiculous. How stupid!" His pale face slowly turned red with anger.

"It's been years. I am over it now." Aria tried to reassure him, although she was never great at that.

"Well, I'm not. That was not okay."

"Oh, but Monsieur, what about your childhood? Did you go to church?" She asked, in an attempt to change the subject.

"...I... would prefer to talk about something else." He began to play the sheet music.

"As you wish, Monsieur." She watched him, as his skeletal fingers hit the keys perfectly, she watched his ocean blue eyes flicker between the keys and the sheet music.

His playing abruptly came to a stop. "Play."

"What?"

"I said play."

"I-I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know..."

"You can't read sheet music?" The Phantom asked her. She shook her head then. "Perhaps I have a use for you after all."


	3. Angel of Music

Aria had come down to the lair twice a week, and stayed for eight hours on end each time. The Phantom was now her teacher, and she was learning to play the piano.

"Wow, Monsieur, you're really good at this!" She smiled as she walked inside, listening to the music.

"Thank you. Now..." The Phantom placed his hands in his lap and he shifted his gaze over to his student. "Show me your progress."

"Um, alright." Aria hesitantly sat down on the seat beside him. She cleared her throat.

"Don't be nervous, my dear girl. I am the last person who would laugh at you." His pale blue eyes seem to burn into hers.

She nodded and stood up straight before placing her long skinny fingers on the keys. As she began to play, the Phantom was overwhelmed by a certain sense of nostalgia. He closed his eyes as he visualized the memories.

"Wishing you were somehow here again  
Wishing you were somehow near  
Sometimes it seemed  
If I just dreamed,  
Somehow you would be here"

The cemetery. Erik had been in the cemetery with Christine as she sang this song for her father. But the lyrics had a much different meaning now that she was gone.

Oh, Christine...

He didn't even realize the tears dripping down his cheeks.

Aria stopped playing abruptly. "Oh... Monsieur? What's wrong?" She asked, visibly concerned.

The Phantom sniffled a bit. "Nothing, it's... it's in the past."

Aria slowly reached out to caress the Phantom's face. He winced and jumped back a bit. She tried a second time, he hesitantly let her comfort him. However, when her other hand cupped the other side of his face-the masked side-he grabbed her wrists.

"Oh, Monsieur, I am so sorry! I should have asked."

The Phantom examined her face once more. And with one word, he had changed everything.

"Sing."

"I'm sorry, excuse me?"

"I said sing, Aria. This song." The Phantom shuffled through his massive collection of sheet music before handing her a single paper.

Aria stared at him for a few seconds before hesitantly attempting it.

"Think of me,  
Think of me fondly  
When we've said goodbye..."

It was Christine's song. The first solo she ever performed on stage. Christine's voice was perfect. Even before the Phantom had taught her what she knows, it was perfect

But Aria's voice was absolutely imperfect. And the Phantom needed to hear it again.

"Remember me  
Once in a while  
Please promise me you'll try."

Her voice cracked. "I'm sorry." She awkwardly chuckled and raised her hand up to touch her neck softly.

And that was enough to send the Phantom over the edge. He stood up, grabbing her wrists tightly to pull her up with him.

"Did I do something wrong?" She seemed panicked.

"I want to see you every night. Eight hours a night, perhaps four."

"But, but why?" Aria's eyebrows furrowed.

"Because," The Phantom loosened his grip on her wrists, "I am going to make you my Angel of Music."


	4. The Mirror

The cave was completely quiet, aside from the Phantom's agitated piano playing and Aria's off-key singing.

"No, you're flat." The Phantom sighed, ceasing his piano playing.

Aria, stressed out, raised the sheet music over her head and groaned. "Okay, well how can I not be flat?"

"Look!" The Phantom stood up from the piano and grabbed the sheet music from her, pointing at the notes. "By matching the notes. You know the notes. Don't sing directly from your throat; sing from your head or chest. And use your vibrato! When it falls flat, it's devastating to hear."

Aria sighed. "I don't know how."

The Phantom's face softened, his thin lips curling up into a small smile. He hesitantly reached out to stroke Aria's cheek, but when her eyes widened, he quickly pulled away. "You'll know."

Aria looked down at the music, and shuffled her feet against the ground. "Right then, um, shall we practice more?"

The Phantom noticed the glum tone in her voice. "No." He took the music away from her and set it against the piano. He took a lit candelabra and made his way to a tall structure, covered in a large piece of fabric. "Come."

Aria picked up her skirts and hesitantly followed him, silently observing every bit of the lair she had not yet explored. It was right there in plain sight; but she hardly had the courage to ask about it.

Once beside him, the Phantom pulled off the fabric hiding this structure, which was a full-length body mirror. Aria gasped and looked away as soon as she became certain of this fact.

The Phantom noticed this behavior, and with a furrowed brow, he gently pressed his index finger under her chin, causing her to look up at her reflection. "Now tell me," he spoke, "what do you see?"

Aria's breath caught in her throat and she blinked away tears as she tried her hardest to muster up any words at all. "C-cow." Was all she said.

"Are these your words, Aria? Or are they words from other people?"

"Mine." She demanded quickly, even though she soon doubted herself. "Mine..."

The Phantom shook his head slowly. "I don't believe you." He stepped into the reflection behind her, placing the candelabra on a stand beside him before resting his large hands on her shoulders. "I see a promising talent. I see a future leading soprano of an opera, possibly many." He leaned forward, tucking her dark curly hair behind her ear, "and I see exquisite beauty."

Aria's brows softened and she looked at his face through the mirror. She wanted so badly to turn around and hug him, but she knew it was the wrong time. "Thank you, Monsieur. Thank you."

Just by her body language, the Phantom could tell she'd never been told that before. And he understood. For the first time in his life, he understood somebody else. "It's nothing to thank me for."

"Do you know what I see when I look at you?" Aria asked.

"Oh, I-Aria, I really don't think-"

"I see a beautiful man, yes, but this beautiful man's eyes hold all the sadness of the world." She turned around, peering into his pale blue eyes. "A man who understands exactly how I feel."

The Phantom raised a brow, and smiled. "Our lesson is over, Aria. You may go home now."


	5. Chapter 5: Insecurity

As the hours passed, the Phantom grew almost as agitated as Aria's voice felt.

"Soft palate, raise your soft palate, SOFT PALATE, ARIA!" He shouted and pulled away from the piano.

"I'm trying," her voice cracked, and she grabbed at her throat. "I'm sorry, Monsieur. But it hurts."

The Phantom's eyes shut and he stood up. Large hands ran through his gelled black wig. "Are you hurt?" The question was but a murmur, and upon a few moments of silence, he was fully prepared to swallow his disappointment and continue working.

"Yes." Aria's russet eyes gazed upon him. "I am."

The Phantom's lower lip quivered. He turned to face her almost immediately. His eyebrows drawn together, he exhaled sharply as he spoke, "I never meant to."

Aria stepped forward. "I know." And as his gaze turned down to the floor, she carefully ran her knuckle across his exposed cheek. His skin was lovely, smooth, all one color. She sighed. He stared into her, a mix of confusion and fright building up inside of him. She finally met his gaze. One moment felt like one hour.

And in a flash, the porcelain mask shattered on the floor.

The Phantom's eyes were shut, breathing in and out quickly. He was completely vulnerable.

"Oh, Monsieur..." Aria reached out to caress his ruined side.

"Don't!" He screamed, covering his face with his hands. He stumbled backwards, sobbing. "Don't..."

Aria began to feel tears welling up in her own eyes. She hesitated before slowly stepping forward. "Why are you ashamed?"

"Oh, Mademoiselle, you don't know how it feels. To be a sewer rat, a walking abomination, a creature, a..." He sighed, remembering Raoul's harsh words, "a _thing_."

"I do!" Aria held back a sob. "Every single day! I can't cover my skin up!"

The Phantom slowly took his head out of his hands. He looked up at her. "Oh, no, but I think you're magnificent."

"And I think that of you." Aria insisted desperately, kneeling down before him and placing both of her spotted hands atop his knees. "You're the most enchanting creature I've ever known."

The Phantom's eyes bore into her. "Angel?"

"Yes? Anything."

"Kiss me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! I suppose I've taken a bit of a break from this fic, but I hope you enjoyed this (rather short) new chapter!!


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